Institutional analysis of governmental involvement in housing : a preliminary exploration

Abstract

This paper, one of a series resulting from institutional analysis of photovoltaic (PV) acceptance, provides a preliminary exploration of governmental acitvities in the housing sector. It is based on theoretical formulations and utilizes methods developed in an earlier paper in this series. The housing process is examined in terms of seven institutional functions -- finance, research, political, regulation, production, service, and socialization -- from a governmental perspective. It is concluded that the federal government is most active in providing for finance, research, and political functions. State and local governments tend to perform the bulk of the regulation functions, though recent trends show increased federal involvement in large-scale regulation, through such mechanisms as the Environmental Impact Statement. The production, service, and socialization functions tend to be performed as a result of the direct realization of the first four.